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How I Planned an International Destination Wedding – Part 3

So, when we last left off, the wedding was basically planned, but I didn’t have locations confirmed for anything. I started reaching out to the wedding coordinator after Christmas to try to get these details nailed down. And… I never got any responses back to my emails. I was kind of in my zen by this point, and I figured it would work itself out. My last email to the wedding coordinator was the day before we left and I was like: “We leave tomorrow, so I’m going to leave it in your capable hands to relay wedding related information to our guests since I am no longer in a position to do so. Thanks! See you soon!”

Around this same time, my photographer reached out to me to go over the details, and create a timeline for the day. I knew this was going to happen; when booking him he told me that he knows the resorts, the DR, has done a million weddings, and would create the time line for the day. That was one of the reasons I hired him. He was more than just a photographer, he was kind of a day of coordinator! I hadn’t been worried about the schedule because he said he had it.

Confession: I really, really wish this conversation had happened about a month sooner. I have no idea why he reached out like 1 week before the wedding. I think I fell into the Christmas cracks, because even he seemed surprised that we hadn’t spoken yet. After speaking to him, I realized that I needed to change my hair and makeup appointment time, cancel my relaxing wedding day spa appointment, and we also decided to move the reception start time one hour later based on the sunset that day. (Yes, one week before the wedding day.) Having the schedule in advance would have been great, and would have relieved a lot of undue stress the week prior to the wedding.

I think my stress level was so high that my body basically shut off. My attitude was pretty much: “I’m sure it will all work out. This is what these people do for a living” (And, thankfully, it did all work out.)

Here was my wedding day schedule prior to talking to the photographer:

9 – 11 am – Relaxing spa treatment for the bride

12 pm – Hair and Make up for the bride

3 – 3:30 pm – Wedding Ceremony

3:30 – 4:30 pm – Cocktail hour

6 – 9 pm – Reception

Notice anything missing? (Like, pretty much every single detail of the day?)

Here’s my schedule after talking to the photographer:

Doesn’t that look a little more thorough? I emailed the file off to everyone (parents, wedding party, etc) and brought copies to hand out in person. I was also kind of hoping for the best, considering I hadn’t talked to the actual wedding coordinator yet. Meeting times and locations for the wedding events were a total guess on my part (and did change after we arrived at the resort), but it was the best I could do at the time.